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p4 the tribune thursday may 8 1997 f st the tribune thursday may 8 1997 vol 109 no 20 comment0 inions send your letters to the editor to the address below editorial good news budget gives taxpayer lift thats long overdue its been a hard couple of years but it would appear ontarians are going to get a break ernie eves presented his good news budget this week and in the process lightened the load of the aver age taxpayer in the durham- york area in the process the tories promised cuts in taxes appear to be as good as in our pockets where they should be local mpp julia munro was understandably excited about being able to tell the local business community about the budget this week i am proud of this bud get said munro adding that the taxandspend lega cy of previous governments had been put to rest not all is rosy however the budget does indicate that while 193000 fewer people were on the social assistance roles it doesnt mention that many of these people have left the province left the roles for other reasons or have sim ply given up as well the tories are not exactly breaking the speed barrier in creating new employment the disappoint ment in this regard was evident in eves speech but he said he was certain the situation would improve once the full 30 per cent tax cut was in place by 199899 still ontario is the engine that drives the countrys economy and this area is the piston of that motor jobs are vital to this region and new employment opportu nities here can only help the entire province and coun try too with the tax break in place and the trouble with unemployment wed have give this budget a b au4ws is de prime minister owg0es ee elecffionompaign outderelnmjhitobh a reintroduction of sorts mark twain once said something about how he could have become a news paper editor but thanked god every day for not making him one i on the other hand fre quently do the opposite 1 almost hit a child today to the editor almost today i almost hit a child almost it was close very close i confess that ive been close before but never this close it scared me this time and afterwards i was upset im still upset luckily i missed i was driving out of the little subdivision where i live and had to as a matter of routine navigate around a set of hockey nets placed in the middle of the road that part has become normal i slow down and i watch for the players who rarely stop while a car passes but this is springtime and the skateboard ramps and obstacles are a fairweather addi tion to this part of the street now both parties have a deal with less space and more move ment although i see it all im not used to the difference i shift my gaze to the small group of inline skaters over on the right for that is where i have to drive and im sure that they havent seen me yet suddenly another player swoops in from the left out and across the front of my car she is turning out and away now but is she had stopped or turned inwell i would have hit a child i grew up on a street where ballhockey was cherished and revered eastend toronto although i recall that we always placed the nets against the curbs i grew up within walk ing distance of a schoolyard but we rarely played there and yes there was a neighbour who occasionally called the police but we learned how to spot for them we also developed a set of guidelines in the letters absence of parental guidance that kept us out of trouble with cars on our street to the best of my recollections there were two families related to small children running out from behind parked cars i have seen the transfer ence of momentum principle in effect as a person is bumped by a car i myself have been bumped twice while riding a bicycle across the city now im in the awkward position of having to use my streetsmarts from the other side of the activity without being considered a crank oddly enough my concern goes out to the children and their friends i am reasonably sure that i wont be the one to hit a child it will probably be a visitor to the neighbor hood or someone taking a traffic shortcut they children or driver wont be looking and in the aftermath the rules and regula tions and laws will proclaim something or other and will likely miss a key point of accountability the parents the neighbors the friends and myself all have a duty of accountability that is persistently ignored on this street we all assume that its someone elses responsibility to teach these kids that respect for the road is not the same as ownership and that is what leaves me upset today i almost hit a child almost erik little as the new editor-in- chief of this paper i thought id better take a moment of your time to re introduce myself or at least reaquaint faithful readers in with my mission many of you know have been kind enough to call me or stop me on the street to wish me well i thank you sincerely i intend to redefine the role of the editorinchief of the paper and i would like your help i have been fortunate in my career having met hun dreds of terrific people from this area i hope to meet many more i plan to get to as many events and functions as possible and to meet as many of our readers as i can i think its important to know who is taking the time to peruse your publi cation we are planning many great things in the coming months and i hope you will call or write to tell me what you think a newspaper in my view must be the mirror of the community it serves it must play a proactive role in the development of the community and work to building a sense of commu nity spirit this has been and will continue to be one of my goals i also believe newspapers minute with mair andrew mair must be interactive i would like to see the community contribute more to the paper a sure sign of a healthy paper is when its letters box is overflowing with the advent of the internet and email there are now even more avenues for you to contact us as they say keep those cards and letters coming if theres one thing ive learned working at small town newspapers is that people must be the focus readers want to see them selves their families and neighbors profiled in the local paper that is the great strength of the community papers over the dailies and thats what id like to bring to your newspaper as the old detective pot boiler tag line goes theres a million stories in the city well we want to know all of them i encourage all readers to drop me a line sometime or stop in to see me it is my mission to make your community paper the best it can be i hope i can live up to your expectations touffville tribune patricia pappas publisher andrew mair editor-in- chief alan shackleton editor debra weller director of advertising mike rogerson retail advertising manager stacey allen classified manager barry goodyear director of distribution vivian oneil business manager pamela nichols operations manager about us 0056402100 retail sales 905 6402100 classifieds 0056402874 distribution 905 6402100 9056405477 email 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